George Hatch
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2002
- Professional Status
- Certified General Appraiser
- State
- California
Leo,
There's nothing wrong with thinking outside of the box. A little imagination can go a long way. Business development skills (read: sales) is always marketable to at least some degree. However, don't make the mistake of thinking that our business is just like any other business because it isn't. First of all, a successful appraiser doesn't need to be an especially astute or agressive businessman. They don't really even have to be a great appraiser. In the current high-demand environment, all someone has to do is to get their name out there a little and the work will gravitate toward them, if for no other reason than availability. They need not be good at accounting or collecting because that's pretty simple and many software packages are available, for cheap, to do the job quite well. The software, hardware and other tools necessary to do the job are pretty cheap, so seed money isn't an issue. Administrative support is unnecessary, at least when the operation is relatively small. Don't need office space, don't need a lot of furniture (an 8' folding table and a good chair is all you need); heck, you don't even need filing cabinets. You don't need advertising, and you don't even need a commercial phone line.
If a certified appraiser wants to start their own business from scratch, all they have to do is make about a dozen phone calls to the AMCs and the local mortgage broker/car salesmen types and they're in business. Literally. Being self-employed is no big burden and no big difficulty. The appraisers who work split fee tend to be those who are looking for advanced appraisal skills from their supervisors, some job security, and advanced administrative support; they can literally make more money by concentrating on appraisal work through the mulitplication of effort. You can offer none of these things unless you have what it takes to start and run a large fee shop right off the bat. Since you haven't ever managed or supervised appraisers before, I can tell you it's not like supervising a team of aircraft assemblers or fast food workers. It's more like herding cats.
So you need not kid yourself that your 401K nestegg or your 2nd mortgage on your home will provide you with a leg up on anyone, other than to support yourself for a while as you get started. The fact that you have prior experience in another field puts you in the same category as about 90% of all appraisers; we've all been somewhere else before we came here and we've all had to start at the bottom when we got here. Not all prior occupations have any bearing on what we do. Maybe if in your prior life you were an insurance adjuster, or a building inspector, or a real estate salesman, or even a news reporter. But prior experience as an office manager, or shift supervisor, or HR manager, or accountant is only going to have a very limited bearing on this job. That is, beyond the life experience of being successful in any endeavor.
Whether you're working for the mentor or the mentor is working for you, the fact remains that both of you are going to be sharing the appraisal fee. The certified appraiser is still going to be accepting all the responsibility for your work, and in 90% or more of the time they still have to sign off as having personally inspected the subject, which means they have to be with you all the time in the beginning. Nobody (who's any good) is going to do that for free or for less than 60% of the fee, and that's with you doing all the work, supplying all the business and all the expenses. You might be able to find some burn-out who's on probation with the state board and has already lost their appraisal practice and their reputation, but I seriously doubt you'll find a worker-bee certified appraiser to cast their lot in with your fledgling little fee shop; not when they already have access to several other real fee shops run by real appraisers with real client lists in your region. Not when they can easily start their own little empire in the sun.
FYI, we get the "I shall start out at the top" pitch on a regular basis from enterprising wannabes such as yourself. You are at least the third or fourth guy we've had this year. They tend to be folks who claim to have some inside connections, agressive and smart, and who are contemptuous of the idea of working for less than serious money, even in the beginning. A couple of them even claim advanced college degrees and prior life experiences. I have yet to hear of any of these folks even getting a single serious reply. But who knows? Maybe you'll be the first.
There's nothing wrong with thinking outside of the box. A little imagination can go a long way. Business development skills (read: sales) is always marketable to at least some degree. However, don't make the mistake of thinking that our business is just like any other business because it isn't. First of all, a successful appraiser doesn't need to be an especially astute or agressive businessman. They don't really even have to be a great appraiser. In the current high-demand environment, all someone has to do is to get their name out there a little and the work will gravitate toward them, if for no other reason than availability. They need not be good at accounting or collecting because that's pretty simple and many software packages are available, for cheap, to do the job quite well. The software, hardware and other tools necessary to do the job are pretty cheap, so seed money isn't an issue. Administrative support is unnecessary, at least when the operation is relatively small. Don't need office space, don't need a lot of furniture (an 8' folding table and a good chair is all you need); heck, you don't even need filing cabinets. You don't need advertising, and you don't even need a commercial phone line.
If a certified appraiser wants to start their own business from scratch, all they have to do is make about a dozen phone calls to the AMCs and the local mortgage broker/car salesmen types and they're in business. Literally. Being self-employed is no big burden and no big difficulty. The appraisers who work split fee tend to be those who are looking for advanced appraisal skills from their supervisors, some job security, and advanced administrative support; they can literally make more money by concentrating on appraisal work through the mulitplication of effort. You can offer none of these things unless you have what it takes to start and run a large fee shop right off the bat. Since you haven't ever managed or supervised appraisers before, I can tell you it's not like supervising a team of aircraft assemblers or fast food workers. It's more like herding cats.
So you need not kid yourself that your 401K nestegg or your 2nd mortgage on your home will provide you with a leg up on anyone, other than to support yourself for a while as you get started. The fact that you have prior experience in another field puts you in the same category as about 90% of all appraisers; we've all been somewhere else before we came here and we've all had to start at the bottom when we got here. Not all prior occupations have any bearing on what we do. Maybe if in your prior life you were an insurance adjuster, or a building inspector, or a real estate salesman, or even a news reporter. But prior experience as an office manager, or shift supervisor, or HR manager, or accountant is only going to have a very limited bearing on this job. That is, beyond the life experience of being successful in any endeavor.
Whether you're working for the mentor or the mentor is working for you, the fact remains that both of you are going to be sharing the appraisal fee. The certified appraiser is still going to be accepting all the responsibility for your work, and in 90% or more of the time they still have to sign off as having personally inspected the subject, which means they have to be with you all the time in the beginning. Nobody (who's any good) is going to do that for free or for less than 60% of the fee, and that's with you doing all the work, supplying all the business and all the expenses. You might be able to find some burn-out who's on probation with the state board and has already lost their appraisal practice and their reputation, but I seriously doubt you'll find a worker-bee certified appraiser to cast their lot in with your fledgling little fee shop; not when they already have access to several other real fee shops run by real appraisers with real client lists in your region. Not when they can easily start their own little empire in the sun.
FYI, we get the "I shall start out at the top" pitch on a regular basis from enterprising wannabes such as yourself. You are at least the third or fourth guy we've had this year. They tend to be folks who claim to have some inside connections, agressive and smart, and who are contemptuous of the idea of working for less than serious money, even in the beginning. A couple of them even claim advanced college degrees and prior life experiences. I have yet to hear of any of these folks even getting a single serious reply. But who knows? Maybe you'll be the first.
